For a while,
people have talked about the future of Japanese style RPG’s and well, RPG’s in
general. The genre itself is getting less and less about the RPG aspects from
games like Ultimata and Wizardry and has leaned into genre mixing. We have seen
the Bioware franchises like Dragon Age and Mass Effect pull out the third
person action-and-shooter RPG. Bethesda is also pushing its RPG franchises like
Fallout and Elder Scrolls into the same genre mixing, but has added the flare
of the first person perspective that never truly works for Elder Scroll’s melee
combat. Now, more criticism of where the RPG is going and if it’s going to die
soon is aimed more at Japan’s line of RPG’s. Admittingly, at some points in
history, the JRPG might have needed to need a good kick in the rear of
innovation, like in 2001, 4 million copies of Dragon Quest 7 were sold in
Japan, but flopped over here in the U.S.A. Maybe this also came up when Final
Fantasy 10 came out and was, more or less, the same stuff Square Enix was
doing. Then, they decided to mix things up with Final Fantasy 11 being an MMO
and Final Fantasy 12 being designed like an MMO. While I am currently playing
through FF12, and while it reminds me of Xenoblade Chronicles, one of my new
all-time favorite games, I am currently wondering what side to be on. Do I want
to side with the fan base that likes RPG’s like Dragon Quest 8 like they are
and not want to change them. OR, do I want to side with the fan base that wants
to see more genre mixing with the RPG. I like both, and can enjoy either in any
situation, and I think there is room for both kinds since ambition of mixing
other genres with the RPG can run into the syndrome of being a bit too
ambitious. Today’s review slightly falls into that situation. It is an RPG,
mixed with action, storytelling, stealth, third person shooting, and actual
passion and determination of changing what the RPG can be and not be stuck in
the past. It is very successful at what it does, and even though I say it falls
into the “too much ambition” category, I love this game. It is one of the best
games of 2012. Does it beat out Xenoblade as one of the best RPG’s of this
year? Which RPG beats the other in being the RPG refresher? Let us take a look
at The Last Story.
The story revolves
around a band of mercenaries on Lazulis Island. The main hero of the story from
this band of mercenaries is named Zael, voiced by Jack Ryder. While going
through a mission at the beginning of the game, he almost loses one of his
allies after an encounter with a horde of skeleton warriors. Luckily he is the
main character of this story and he gains a special ability granting him many
magical abilities like reviving his ally from death and many other abilities I
will explain later in the review. After meeting up with the leader of the
mercenaries, Dagran, voiced by Nico Lennon, the group decides to stay within
the city that is run by Count Arganan, voiced by Peter de Jersey. While there,
he meets a young woman and the main love interest of the story, Calista, voiced
by Alix Wilton Regan. Soon, realizing that she is the princess of the island’s
count who is marrying a punk of a prince of another kingdom, a war breaks out
between the humans and a reptilian-like race of beings and of course, our
mercenaries and the princess are caught in the middle. The story mainly focuses
on whether Zael should stay with his fellow mercs or become a royal knight and
develop his relationship with Calista. Since this game is called The Last
Story, you would think the story would be good, however, it is actually one of
the best stories in ANY JRPG. It might be head-tilting at first when the themes
are love, trust, and friendship that might induce some groans at RPG’s that do
these themes poorly, but the game’s story is great! It’s more focused than,
say, Xenoblade Chronicles, which is more open and loose. This game is very
story-driven and its characters very memorable. Do not think you are about to
run into a cut-and-paste RPG story here because you are not.
The gameplay is a
mix of genres. You’ve got your action RPG, third person shooting, stealth, and
your real-time strategy elements all mixed into one game. You control only one
character, but later on, you get to input commands to your allies. Even if you
don’t give them commands, their AI is actually pretty good. You do have the
ability to auto-attack, but for your sanity’s sake, please switch it to where
you just press the A button to attack. The hack-and-slash and shooter parts of
the gameplay might be simple, but Zael’s magical abilities make up for it,
giving the combat a lot of depth. You can do many many things from running up
walls, giving said allies commands on what to do next, pull off a wind attack,
a strong slash attack, and you get the idea. There are even moments in the game
where stealth is the best way to tackle a situation and while it isn’t too
deep, like Metal Gear Solid 4 or the recent Deus Ex, it’s solid. The game is
linear, but there are side quests and stuff to explore so it won’t be like
Fable 3, Tales of Graces F, and Final Fantasy 13 in linearity. The game is big
and will take you about 35-40 hours if you want to do everything. I bet this
was a surprise to everyone when they announced it, that this game has
multiplayer. It isn’t huge like Halo or Battlefield 3, but it’s solid. You’ve
got your free-for-all, team death match, and the ability to team up and take
down bosses. All of the modes will reward you with items and even some of those
items cannot be found within the main game, so both single player and
multiplayer are worth playing even if the multiplayer might be slightly
underdeveloped. Overall, this game is rather ambitious with a whole lot going
for it. This isn’t your dad’s Dragon Quest, this is the next evolution of the
JRPG.
The graphics,
while having some minor nitpicks, are truly amazing. It looks great on the Wii
and I dare say looks better artistically than most HD games. The art style and
character design was done by Kimihiko Fujisaka. He is also known for his
artistic styles for the Drakengard games. It just looks so detailed and has the
ability to be more focused and detailed since it isn’t an open world RPG, like
Xenoblade Chronicles. The characters are awesome. I love the two women in the
mercenary group, Syrenne, voiced by Kelly Wenham, and Mirania, voiced by
Montserrat Limbard. I like how they are not of the typical female kind of
character in a fantasy game. Syrenne is a beer lover and Mirania likes to eat.
I also liked the other characters, like the two other guys, Yurick, voiced by
Colin Ryan, and Lowell, voiced by Derek Riddell. There isn’t one character that
I found annoying or just a complete waste of space. They each have their own
characteristics and are well-developed. The music is beautiful. It is, of
course, composed by the god that he is, Nobuo Uematsu. If I need to explain
what he has composed, something is very wrong with you. The overall
presentation is great and while it might be on the Wii, it is just amazing what
they could do on the Wii.
While this game is
truly an amazing game, there are some minor faults. The game has the same
problem as Conker’s Bad Furday. Its ambitious design suffers from clunky
controls. It is hard to explain, but your movements won’t be as fluid as say
other action RPG’s like Kingdoms of Amalur. The camera could also be pulled
back since it can get very close to you at times and end up with cheap hits
from enemies because you couldn’t see them. The third-person-shooting with the
crossbow could also have been better. The reason why I say this is because you
can’t move when you aim and fire your arrows. It is basically like Resident
Evil 4 and 5. In a way, it leaves strategy in where you plant yourself so you
don’t get surrounded by enemies, but you should be able to move and shoot at
the same time. The multiplayer is also in need a bit of tuning. Since you can
go into battles in multiplayer with whatever items and weapons you have, you
can easily get into a battle with someone who has stronger weapons and will
slaughter you. However, I will admit with all these complaints, they are rather
minor and don’t really detract from the game that much.
Even with those
small problems, this is one of my favorite games of this year. Heck, it is one
of the best RPG’s ever! It evolves the JRPG genre to new levels and well, who
else would have done it other than the guy who created the Final Fantasy
franchise. Now then, here is the question. We have two amazing RPG’s on the
Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story. Which one do you get? One has a
more free-roaming MMO quality, with a weaker, but still great story. The other
has a more solid story and complex combat system, but is more limiting in that
it isn’t free-roaming and is more linear. Well, get both. Either way, these two
RPG’s are going to be released in limited numbers and will be expensive in a
few years. Plus, these are amazing games! BUY THEM! I mean, you could wait till
these two games go down in price, but I would get both games. They both
innovate on the JRPG genre and bring it to new levels in how JRPG’s can be
designed. Why not just sit down and take on two of the best games of 2012.
This
game gets a 9 out of 10
Comments